After hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones blamed a text-message cue for a botched cha-cha on Monday’s “Dancing with the Stars,” host Tom Bergeron warned about the dangers of texting and dancing. One side effect Tom didn’t mention: Those dangers will get you voted off “DWTS.”

Lolo and her partner, new pro Keo Motsepe, were eliminated Tuesday night, making them the first couple to depart the 19th season of “DWTS.” It wasn’t just that Lolo messed up – after all, Betsey Johnson and Tony Dovolani were two points behind Lolo and Keo after their use of a boa ruined the last 15 seconds of their cha-cha. Rather, it was Lolo’s postdance actions that did her in, from talking over the judges to scowling whenever she was caught on camera. It was painful to watch, and Keo doesn’t have the experience yet to stop an imploding celebrity. Read More »

Betsey Johnson gave fans a sneak peek at her dance moves when she brought “Dancing With the Stars” partner Tony Dovolani onto the runway after her New York Fashion Week show yesterday. The 72-year-old designer will compete in the nineteenth season of the ABC show, which starts Monday at 8 p.m.

“You practice three hours a day, and then you have to take a day off,” Johnson told Speakeasy backstage before her show. The designer plans to wear her own designs on the show, and also plans to incorporate her signature runway move into the competition. “That’s the big thing I’ve got in my pocket,” she said. “I don’t know if the other dancers do that, but every time we’ll have a cartwheel-split. I just hope I make it a long time.” Read More »

Lolo Jones may feel as if she’s at the Hunger Games and not the Olympic games. In the wake of the highly-touted Jones finishing fourth in the 100 meter hurdles–which, by any objective standard, is an incredible accomplishment–critics are piling on like combatants at a New York Jets practice. Two of Jones’s teammates and competitors in the 100 meters, silver-medalist Dawn Harper and bronze-medalist Kellie Wells, took not-so-veiled shots at her in a TV interview (“Boom! Just like that!” Harper called out, after speaking her piece) and other media outlets have compared Jones to Anna Kournikova, the tennis star who got more attention for her looks than her game. (This is unfair because 1. Jones is way more telegenic than Kournikova and 2. Jones won three NCAA titles and two World Indoor gold medals, among other honors.) Harper and Wells didn’t do themselves any favors by dissing a teammate (“Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells Snub Lolo Jones; Make Themselves Way Less Likable,” read one web headline). Jones might do well by reading this poem for consolation.

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.